With the acquisition, DCG now operates online classifieds sites across seven markets including Laos, Cambodia and Fiji.

Digital Classifieds Group Portals

DCG Group CEO Mathew Care reflected on the quality of the Lamudi business.

“Lamudi, under the stewardship of the dubizzle Group and the management team, have created dominant classifieds and transactional property marketplaces in two of Asia’s most exciting markets: Indonesia and the Philippines. Our vision is to build a market leading classifieds group in South East Asia, a region of incredible opportunities, and this acquisition is a catalyst to delivering this vision. I am incredibly excited to enter these markets and welcome the Lamudi team to the DCG family.”

Lamudi is the second real estate portal asset that DCG has acquired from Dubizzle Group (formerly EMPG) this year with the Dubai-based group having sold the leading Bangladeshi portal Bproperty to DCG in January. Dubizzle Group appears to be divesting from non-core assets ahead of a rumoured IPO.

Having been founded in 2013, Lamudi was acquired by Dubizzle Group (formerly EMPG) in 2020 with a subsequent injection of capital into the business following in 2021. Lamudi effectively holds the number two position in the Indonesian market behind 99.co while in the Philippines it is the dominant real estate vertical.

Earlier this year Dubizzle Group announced layoffs at the Indonesian branch of Lamudi citing an "optimization drive" while rival Indonesian portal operator PropertyGuru decided to pull out of the market.

In a conversation with DCG management, Online Marketplaces learned that Lamudi would be a core company focus and that the business would benefit from management's expertise and experience with similar businesses.

While declining to go into specifics of the Lamudi deal, DCG did confirm a report in the Australian Financial Review from earlier this week that it may be looking to float on the ASX following its latest acquisition.

"As an owner-operator, we are confident we can drive robust returns from our dominant market positions for current and future investors. A listing on the ASX or another exchange will give the company access to capital to fund further growth opportunities via M&A, which we believe is vital in creating Southeast Asia's largest property marketplace."

DCG is set to benefit from the experience of Fusion4 Ventures, the investment company that led a recent investment round into the business. Fusion4 Partner Joe Hanna (former CEO of The PropTech Group) will be joining the board while Michael Fiorenza (former CFO of The PropTech Group) will be joining DCG as a CFO.

Disclosure: Online Marketplaces' Chairman, Simon Baker is an investor in and advisor to Digital Classifieds Group.

• Revenue grew 59% year-on-year to INR 2,250 million ($27 million).
• Gross Transaction Volume (GTV) grew 77% year-on-year.
• EBITDA margin improved from -28% (Q2 FY23) to -5%.

Square Yards is a diversified PropTech business and real estate marketplace. For consumers, the company operates a core new homes listings service as well as an existing homes segment (Square Yards), a property management business (azuro), a renovations business (Interior Company) and a fintech offering (Urban Money) which is now contributing around a third of the company's revenue.

The company operates in its native Indian market where it competes with the likes of REA India, 99acres and Magic Bricks as well as in the Middle East and further afield in markets with a strong Indian ex-pat community such as Canada and Australia.

Square Yards' real estate services saw muted growth in the first half of the financial year but the segment is expected to deliver stronger metrics in the second half.

As for the Square Yards portal, the company claims that it is gaining market share with average traffic of around eight million visitors per month.

Despite corporate overheads leading to a negative EBITDA margin for the first half of the year, an email circulated to journalists emphasized that due to the seasonal nature of revenue in the Indian market, the company expects to be profitable at a corporate level for the financial year. The company said it is on track for around 25 per cent Gross margin and an EBITDA margin of between three and four per cent.

In a press release this week, Urban Money says its prediction represents more than double 2023's full-year figures of INR153 billion ($1.8bn) in FY22-23, accounting for 35% of Square Yards' total revenue in that period.

Urban Money said last year's figures included the facilitation of the disbursal of loans via banks and non-bank financial companies on the way to Square Yards recording revenue growth of 70% year-on-year for the Indian financial year ended March 2023:

Tanuj Shori, CEO at Square Yards, said:

"We identified this fundamental gap in 2019 and cracked this space in the last four years, emerging as the largest mortgage marketplace in the country."

Square Yards operates in India, Australia, Canada and the Gulf, while Urban Money is present in over 250 cities.

The firm clearly has a strong strategic focus on improving its digital capabilities, including a recent team-up with videogame developer Epic Games.

Meanwhile, Square Yards has filed no fewer than 18 international patent applications across the fields of virtual and augmented reality, extended reality, artificial intelligence and data applications as it seeks to strengthen its hold on intellectual property.

The acquisition, conducted through Ohmyhome (BVI) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ohmyhome, signifies a significant step towards bolstering the property technology platform's reach and offerings.

The deal, valued at approximately S$4.7 million, has opened new doors for Ohmyhome, allowing it to tap into Singapore's thriving private residential market. With over 400,000 families residing in condominiums and executive condominiums, the company says that demand for efficient property management services has never been higher.

A company press release asserted that the industry heavily relies on manual processes and paperwork, leading to inefficient communication and service delivery.

By integrating Simply's 5,800 residential units into their ecosystem, Ohmyhome can now offer residents an improved experience. Ohmyhome's cutting-edge homeowner dashboard, Homer AI, will provide homeowners with essential information about their property, trends in the real estate market, and access to various services, including brokerage, renovation, cleaning, and handyman services.

Kenneth Chong, CEO of Simply Sakal, expressed his excitement about this acquisition, stating, "Our companies are aligned in the vision of providing the best experience to homeowners by ensuring that all services surrounding their homes are provided at their fingertips, reshaping the way they experience their homes. By combining our strengths, Ohmyhome and Simply will be able to create a comprehensive offering for homeowners and home seekers and serve them for a lifetime."

With a preliminary estimate of S$9 million in potential synergies in the first year and a positive EBITDA in the second year, the company expects this acquisition not only to provide an enhanced experience to residents but also to pave the way for growth.

Simply Sakal is set to be rebranded as Ohmyhome Property Management, subject to the necessary approvals. This acquisition expands Ohmyhome's range of services to cater to a growing customer base.

Ohmyhome is primarily a tech-enabled brokerage business that describes itself in its prospectus as a "one-stop-shop property platform which provides end-to-end property solutions". The company does renovations, mortgage and insurance referrals and legal services as well as being a listing and research platform.

Viewit wants to set a new standard in the portal space by harnessing the power and potential of video content to showcase listings in a more authentic and compelling way.

We asked CEO Farhan Junaid ten questions, and he gave us ten answers. From monetization to the post-COVID property search experience, Farhan shares some transparent insights into Dubai's property market and how Viewit intends to take its slice.

Enjoy!

What problem does Viewit solve?

Viewit solves the problem of real estate viewings and fake listings by offering an app that allows real estate agents to upload video tours of listings that are also geotagged. This helps customers get a better understanding of the property and confirm that the listing is real and that the agent has in fact visited the property.

What was the inspiration behind Viewit?

During COVID, Dubai was under severe lockdown. I ran a real estate agency with 12 agents and we were unable to go for viewings. We had to figure out a solution whereby we could earn our commissions without in-person viewings.

The easiest method was to send videos of listings over WhatsApp to show what the property looked like because clients were also locked into their homes and couldn’t leave.

To our surprise, clients would book properties sight unseen based on the video. I then decided to build a better distribution system for these video listings and so, Viewit was born.

What is Viewit’s monetization model?

We charge around $30 per agent per month for unlimited listings. This is less than 20% of the cost of our competitors and allows us to scale faster and quicker, as we are based on a per-seat basis as opposed to the per-listing one that our competitors use.

The three markets you operate in all have established, well-funded, dominant incumbents. Are you trying to take the top spot or just get a slice of the market?

We are trying to get a slice of the market. Going up against well-capitalized and established incumbents would not be wise given we are a seed-stage startup.

The market in Dubai is quite large, with over 60,000 agents in the city, over a billion dirhams' worth of real estate transactions a day, and the top two portals take up over 90% of traffic with the same products. We feel now is the right time to take a slice of the market with improved innovation, customer service and design.

What numbers can you share with us—around funding, user numbers, traffic, listings and your personal research? 

We currently have 3,500 monthly active users in Dubai and Karachi combined, 2,500+ live listings on viewit.pk and 350+ listings on viewit.ae for a total of 2,800+ listings in two countries.

We are part of the In5 incubator in Dubai and have recently been accepted into the Techstars Chicago 2023 cohort with a seed investment of $120,000. 

Our research shows that video listings generate 403% more inquiries than image-based listings, can increase revenues for realtors by 49%, and increase organic search results to listings by a whopping 157%.

When we looked at our competitors' sites, we noticed that less than 10% of listings of their sites were immersive experiences, leaving a gap in the market for us to exploit.

All Viewit’s listings have videos instead of photos. Do you have to train agents on how best to film videos, or provide tech partnerships to improve quality?

Yes, we have to train agents on how best to shoot videos. We also plan to work with either Kaputrize or Flashy.ae to provide a better experience for customers who can pay.

Our goal at the moment is to increase listings on the site to gain more traffic, more conversions and more leads for agents.

What is Viewit currently working on—and what’s your biggest challenge?

We are working on a couple of things. We are the first portal in Dubai to come up with a virtual real estate agent. We trained chat GPT on eight years of Dubai real estate data and Dubai’s geography so that it can answer any question to do with real estate. For example, you can ask it "What was the most recent transaction in Golden Mile?", and it will reply with the details of the sale, the date and the price—as well as many more pieces of information according to your needs.

Our challenge is to continue to train the AI agent to be as easy to use and friendly as possible, allowing customers to have a well-informed agent to talk to 24/7.

What is the most common request from your agent partners?

The agents we're speaking to are portal agnostic and do not mind listing with us. However, two issues that crop up are A) getting used to a new workflow (ours is not the conventional XML feed) and, B) the lack of leads. They want us to find a way to increase their leads but keep in mind we are currently free.

We plan to double down on our video and AI niche and market our portal using these key points as leverage, something that other portals do not currently offer.

Which PropTech companies out there do you look out for in the news?

Good question! We didn’t really know of any until we saw OnlineMarketplaces.com. This site looks like the kind of portal we need to keep watching to see other portals that are attacking similar problems and coming out with unique solutions. 

How do you see the market evolving, and how will you stay ahead of the curve?

Another good question.

As Dharmesh Shah (founder of HubSpot) recently pointed out on the 20VC podcast, I see markets becoming more efficient.

The way to do this is by improving the efficiency of middlemen. Real estate to many is a black box that needs to be navigated with the help of an agent. I think that this is not the case—in fact, as information becomes more transparent, the initial discovery and negotiating phases can be done with a lot less friction.

We have built tools to help agents and customers learn as much as possible about the property before committing to a viewing or making an offer.

Viewit gives people a much better perspective on listings than the traditional pictures and text on most listings. We're the next logical step in the iteration of PropTech marketing technology. We want to provide buyers and agents with tools that lead to a more efficient sales process and, ultimately, a more efficient market.

The partnership will see Bproperty’s users given heavy discounts on LaLaMove's moving services.

“Our house shifting packages at LalaMove come at a very attractive price point. Basic package starts from just BDT1,999 ($18 U.S.). Users who will shift house through BProperty will get a further 50% discount over this price which I think is a great deal for them,” said BProperty’s marketing manager Abrar Ahsan Chowdhury.

Bproperty is the leading, and indeed only, real estate vertical in Bangladesh and competes with leading horizontal player Bikroy.

The portal company was sold off by Dubizzle Group (formerly EMPG) to Australia-based Digital Classifieds Group earlier this year for an undisclosed sum.

Digital Classifieds Group Portals

"Our expansion into Spain and Portugal marks a significant milestone for Endeksa," said Görkem Öğüt, Founder and CEO of Endeksa. "We are excited to introduce our technology to new markets, empowering individuals and professionals with the tools they need to navigate the real estate landscape effectively. We are delighted to have Sam Papon join us for our European market expansion. Sam's extensive expertise and proven track record in navigating complex markets will undoubtedly be invaluable as we take Endeksa to new heights in Europe."

A post on the company's website said that it would be using the services of Ambé Consulting to aid with the expansion. Ambé Founder and Director, Sam Papon will serve as Endeksa's Head of International Expansion and oversee its launch and development in the two Iberian markets.

Endeksa was founded by Neozeka Software in 2017 and was acquired by iLabs in 2021. The company is a stablemate of the Turkish real estate vertical EmlakJet which uses Endeksa's data to inform its iBuying operations.

It uses data analytics and artificial intelligence to provide insights into the real estate market. The platform features an AVM which is used to generate seller leads for agents and several data intelligence services.

Below: Watch Endeksa CEO and Founding Partner, Gorkem Ogut explain the company's model at Property Portal Watch 2022

The three-person committee is made up of independent directors, Huyue Zhang, Shaohua Zhang and Changming Yan and is tasked with evaluating and considering the offer made last month by Dai to take the business private with an offer of $6.19 per share.

A post on the company's website earlier in the week stated:

"The Board cautions the Company’s shareholders and others considering trading the Company’s securities that no decisions have been made with respect to the Company’s response to the Proposal. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any definitive agreement will be executed relating to the Proposed Transaction, or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated."

When it was made public earlier this month, the offer represented a 210% premium on the closing price of the firm's American depository shares on September 1st and valued the business at $40.9 million.

Fang.com (not to be confused with FangDD) is a direct competitor of the likes of Anjuke and Leju operating a marketing, listing, financial and value-added services business model. The company's American depository shares were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2022 after the company failed to file financial reports with the FTC.

OneDome introduces school proximity search

UK challenger OneDome has added a new functionality to its search portal that lets users find listings based on their proximity to preferred schools.

Buyers can now search by the name of their selected school, with an interactive map showing matching results.

Babek Ismayil, founder at OneDome, said:

"Choosing the right school for your child is one of the most important decisions parents make, and proximity is a crucial factor when schools decide who to allocate their places to.

"Not only can the location of your home help you integrate with the school community, but it’s also futureproofing your investment.

"A family home near a good or outstanding school will always be in demand."

Realestate.co.nz introduces Tāhū, the real estate robot

Real estate stakeholders in New Zealand can now call upon Tāhū to ease the listing process for agents, vendors and administrators.

A New Zealand first for property portals, Tāhū has already improved accuracy and made the listing process faster.

Powered by Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Tāhū can interact with various applications or websites like a human would while streamlining repetitive processes such as data entry.

Realestate.co.nz says that the robot currently does around 40% of all manual listing bookings and saves staff around 40 hours a week—which will increase as it gets smarter.

Sarah Wood, CEO at realestate.co.nz, said:

"Several listings can't be uploaded immediately to our site every day due to missing information. Tāhū means we will have another set of eyes constantly scouring the system, checking new listings for missing information, and notifying the real estate agent when there may be something they have missed – likely before they've even noticed the listing isn't live."

OnTheMarket introduces Anti-Money Laundering integration

UK challenger OnTheMarket has improved its offering by integrating digital ID and source of funds provider Thirdfort.

Using NFC technology, Thirdfort's app reads and verifies digital signatures and signing keys for thousands of identity documents issued by governments worldwide. International addresses can be verified via Experian data, with 23 jurisdictions covered globally.

OnTheMarket clients will be able to use the Thirdfort integration to handle Right to Rent checks through the portal's TecLet platform.

Source of funds checking will be completed using Open Banking, while PEPs and sanctions screening are included, and 12-month monitoring is also available.

Alan Blockley, CEO at TecLet, said:

"The integration of AML solution Thirdfort within the TecCRM platform builds on our commitment to providing our users with access to best in class, compliant solutions across our suite of products."

Patrick Brierley, partnerships manager at Thirdfort, said:

"We are delighted to integrate our compliance products with OnTheMarket Software and to be able to provide our mutual clients with, what we believe to be, the leading digital ID and source of funds service available in the market today."

Otodom adds free Otodom Concierge service offering

Otodom, The Polish real estate arm of  OLX Group, has launched a free-to-use concierge service for all listings.

Users can use the service to get help from dedicated Otodom Concierge experts to simplify the home search process according to their preferred criteria for their favoured properties.

Users will also receive alerts for new listings that match their needs—and will even be able to request individual offers from sellers.

Xinyi adds AI functions for home searches

Sinyi.com.tw, a leading property portal in Taiwan, has added AI-optimised matching during home searches.

A story from Chinese publication NowNews reports that Xinyi Housing (Sinyi) is the first in the industry to launch to AI smart matching to help consumers filter properties that match more closely to their individual needs, which has been a historically difficult task for homebuyers.

The company has reported a 200% increase in transaction rates since the launch of the AI—which leverages big data—and has won the Silver Award for Best Technical Innovation and Best Product Innovation in the 2023 Innovation Business Awards.

Xinyi says its database of more than 40 years of housing data (it was founded in 1981) is a big contributor to the success of the AI integration, which boasts significantly higher accuracy thanks to the vast range of text, image, and geographical and spatial data at its disposal.

Xinyi has incorporated digital products and services including smart tours, real estate e-passports and mortgages into its portal.

Xinyi operates in Chaina, Japan and Southeast Asia.

SeLoger Neuf Launches Neo Extend to improve qualified leads

Leading French portal SeLoger has launched a new solution that the company says will increase the number of qualified leads for agents.

The solution is for the 'Neuf' (New) arm of SeLoger's real estate operation, which focuses on new-build properties in major markets across France.

Agents using Neo Extend will benefit from a number of perks including simultaneous advertisements of listings across four domains (SeLoger, Logic-Immo Neuf, Seloger, and Logic-Immo).

Listings will be featured prominently on each platform for the first month, as well as extra ads sent via email to highly qualified targets. SeLoger will also expand the listings' visibility to extra postcodes to improve visibility for those properties that would otherwise not show up in searches.

Finally, a retargeting system will show ads to prospects who have submitted specific searches on high-profile websites including Le Monde and L'Equipe.

Franck Le Tendre, vice-president responsible for Operations at AVIV France (SeLoger Meilleurs Agents Group), said:

"Neo Extend boosts the visibility of programs in an unprecedented way by bringing together in a single offer the power of leading sites, the effectiveness of retargeting and the expansion to an additional quality audience.

"As the market tightens, it is a simple and effective solution that allows professionals to significantly increase the number of their contacts and achieve their business objectives."

A press release did not specify the period of time that the patents had been filed across but did say that three of them have already been granted.

"By integrating AR, VR, XR, AI, and Data Applications into the real estate industry, we're pushing the boundaries of what's possible. We have always been an early adopter in the use of breakthrough technologies to enhance the real estate experience and look forward to creating unparalleled opportunities for consumers. These patents are a testament to our commitment to innovate, disrupt, and lead the digital transformation within the global real estate industry,” said Tanuj Shori, Founder and CEO, Square Yards.

Square Yards operates in its native Indian market where it competes with the likes of REA India, 99acres and Magic Bricks as well as in the Middle East and further afield in markets with a strong Indian ex-pat community such as Canada and Australia.

The company is a diversified PropTech business and real estate marketplace. For consumers, the company operates a core new homes listings service as well as an existing homes segment (Square Yards), a property management business (azuro), a renovations business (Interior Company) and a fintech offering (Urban Money).

On top of this, Square Yards also has a technology arm (PropVR) that specializes in developing real estate presentation technology and which is responsible for the filing of patents.

The three already granted are in the field of interactive 3d experiences for real estate, remote collaboration for customers to experience properties, and agent ranking algorithms.

Square Yards is one of many real estate portals to have released AI-powered product updates in 2023. Last month Chinese real estate portal operator 58.com announced that it would be unveiling a new AI-powered virtual reality product for users later in the year and British portal OnTheMarket announced an AI-powered voice search assistant.